Fluid access into the vasculature of a patient may be necessary for any of several different reasons. Such access may be necessary in order to place medicaments within the patient's circulatory system, or to remove blood or other fluids from the patient for subsequent analysis. For either reason, such access is generally established with the vasculature of the patient, such as a vein. When an infusion protocol is involved that requires periodic injections, an established fluid access site that can be repetitively used for a sequence of different injections may be required. Establishing such an access site, however, can be problematic.
Often, such access is established by a needle extending through the lumen of a catheter, such that both the tip of the needle and the tip of the catheter are located within the patient's vein. The needle is subsequently withdrawn, and the infusion or injections occur after a reservoir and tubing are attached to the luer of the catheter. In yet other situations, it is desirable to obtain blood or other bodily fluid from the patient for subsequent analysis. In such cases the blood may be drawn through a hollow needle inserted into the patient's vasculature or by connection of a blood collection reservoir to an existing, inserted catheter.
Currently, these two functions of introduction of a medicament into the patient, and withdrawal of blood from the patient, are performed in a series of multiple operations by a medical professional, using a plurality of different devices. The current requirement for multiple steps in a procedure using multiple devices provides multiple opportunities for error and multiple risks to the patient. Further, the use of multiple devices requires the clinic administrator to maintain an inventory of many separate devices. Such an inventory is not just expensive, but by itself leads to further risk to the patient if the wrong devices are stocked or used.
Yet further risks are incurred by the medical practitioner, since the devices used for introduction of a medicament or withdrawal of patient blood each can include sharp tipped needles. Since these needles are exposed to the patient's blood, there is a possibility of the medical practitioner being accidentally stuck by a used needle, with the subsequent exposure of the practitioner to the ailment of the patient.
What is needed are devices that address one or more of the aforementioned issues. Various embodiments of the present invention do this in novel and unobvious ways.